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Rookies Flaherty, Machado hit historic homers

Rookies Flaherty, Machado hit historic homers

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10/10/12: Ryan Flaherty and Manny Machado become the first pair of teammates to hit their first career postseason homer in the same game

By Adam Rosenbloom
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MLB.com |

NEW YORK -- The Orioles and Yankees combined to hit four home runs in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday night. The two by Raul Ibanez will likely be the ones remembered, but by no means were the other two insignificant.

Entering the game, no Orioles rookie had hit a postseason home run in the club's 58-year history. By the fifth inning, that stat went out the window -- twice.

Second baseman Ryan Flaherty's third-inning home run off Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda -- Baltimore's first postseason homer since Eric Davis went deep in Game 5 of the 1997 AL Championship Series -- put an end to the aforementioned drought, and two innings later, third baseman Manny Machado added another.

The pair -- occupying the bottom two spots in Baltimore's lineup -- became the first rookie teammates to hit their first career postseason home runs in the same game. In 2007, Geovany Soto (Cubs) and Chris Young (D-backs) hit their first playoff homers as rookies in the same game, but they were on different teams.

"The home runs and things like that, that's why they're here," manager Buck Showalter said. "They're capable of those things, and as we go forward, I know it's a big night for Ryan, when you think about it, a Rule 5 [Draft] pick that has had some big hits for us, especially in the last month, and he's been a contributor."

At just 20, Machado also became the youngest Oriole to go deep in the postseason, and the second-youngest player to homer in the playoffs, trailing only the Yankees' Andruw Jones, who was 19 at the time and playing for the Braves.

Machado's also the second-youngest player to hit a postseason homer against the Yankees. Jones, who homered against the Yanks in the 1996 World Series as a 19-year-old, is the youngest.

"It's great. Ryan's been swinging the bat well lately, and we made two good swings and got home runs," Machado said. "But the big story was we came out with the loss, and that kind of throws it out of the way."

Adam Rosenbloom is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.